Orioles claim AL East lead after Rodriguez's stellar outing vs. M's
SEATTLE (AP) — Grayson Rodriguez allowed just two hits over 6 1/3 shutout innings, and Anthony Santander drove in the go-ahead run with a fourth-inning RBI single as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Seattle Mariners 2-0 on Tuesday night.
Rodriguez (10-3) was dominant against Seattle’s struggling offense, retiring the first eight batters and allowing just one hit through five innings. The Orioles have won five of their last six games after dropping five in a row.
The Mariners threatened twice, but Rodriguez got an inning-ending double play off the bat of Jorge Polanco in the fourth inning and struck out Cal Raleigh in the sixth to escape both jams unscathed.
“I thought he threw the ball great,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Really good changeup tonight. That start in Houston didn’t go well, but ... he’s had four or five really good ones. This was right up there also. Really good job of changing speeds.”
Josh Rojas had both hits for Seattle, a pair of singles.
Gunnar Henderson hit a leadoff single in the fourth against Mariners starter George Kirby, and scored to put the Orioles up 1-0 when Santander hit a one-out single to right field.
“They have a pretty good pitching staff,” Santander said. “There are some games we don’t win by a homer. As a hitter we have to try to not do too much, especially with runners in scoring position.”
The Orioles, who lead MLB with 139 homers, won without a long ball for the first time since May 31 against Tampa Bay.
Cedric Mullins made it a 2-0 game with an RBI single in the seventh that ended Kirby’s day after 6 1/3 innings. Kirby (7-6) allowed two earned runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and one walk.
Rodriguez also went 6 1/3 innings, with four walks, eight strikeouts, and 19 swings and misses from the Seattle lineup, including nine off his changeup.
“That’s kind of the foundation of how I pitch is off that changeup,” Rodriguez said. “If I can get that working, I’m pretty confident I can do anything I want with it.”
Yennier Cano and Cionel Pérez combined for two perfect innings of relief, and Craig Kimbrel pitched the ninth for his 20th save.
Raleigh put a scare into the Baltimore dugout with a booming blast with one on that looked set to tie the game in the ninth, but the ball curved foul.
The loss extended Seattle’s losing streak to three games.
“Baltimore has got a good club, we know that,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “These games are going to be tight. We’ve got to figure out a way to get the big hit late, and that’s been a struggle for us lately.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
DH/C Mitch Garver (wrist) was still a bit sore on Tuesday after taking a fastball from Joe Ryan off his right wrist in Sunday’s game against Minnesota. Garver was not in the lineup, but took some swings in the batting cage.
ROSTER MOVE
Seattle recalled C Seby Zavala from Triple-A Tacoma, and optioned LHP Jhonathan Díaz … Seattle signed RHP Chris Devenski to a major league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Tacoma. Devenski was released by Tampa Bay on Monday … On Monday, Baltimore activated RHP Corbin Burnes off the paternity list and optioned LHP Matt Krook to Triple-A Norfolk.
UP NEXT
Orioles RHP Dean Kremer (3-4, 4.32 ERA) will pitch Wednesday against Mariners RHP Logan Gilbert (5-4, 2.72).
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